Immigration flows have hit their highest level for six years in a major blow
for the Coalition pledge to cut numbers.

Net migration in to the UK soared by almost half last year and is now close to the record levels of 2005.

It is the fifth quarter in a row that net immigration has risen signalling a worrying upward trend.

And two of the main drivers were a slump in emigration and a sharp rise in Eastern Europeans coming to the UK for work – two areas that will not be affected by the Government’s annual cap or other immigration measures.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) yesterday also showed:

: The number of foreign workers increased by 1.7 million in the last decade and accounted for all the increase in employment levels over the period.

David Cameron has promised to cut net immigration, the difference between those arriving and those leaving the UK, to the “tens of thousands” by 2015.

The Coalition has already been accused of watering down that pledge after Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, described it only as an “aspiration”.

And figures yesterday showed trends in every aspect of the immigration and asylum system are going in the wrong direction for ministers.

Net immigration hit 242,000 in the year to September 2010, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That was a 45 per cent increase on mid 2009 and the highest level since June 2005 when it hit 260,000.

In total, 344,000 people left the UK over the period while 586,000 arrived. The emigration figure was 20 per cent lower than its peak in 2008 and comes amid reports that many are put off by a rising cost of living abroad.

There was also a large increase in the number of Eastern Europeans returning to the UK to look for work.

Over the period, there was a net inflow of those EU workers, such as Poles and Lithuanians, of 43,000 compared to a net outflow of 12,000 in 2009.

Other figures showed the number of work visas granted in the year to March 2011 increased by six per cent to 161,815.

And in the first three months of this year asylum claims rose by 11 per cent compared with the same quarter last year, 4,845 applications.

A separate review by the ONS also found that between 2002 and 2011 the number of non-UK born workers increased by 1.7 million while the number of British workers fell by 223,000.

Over the period, total UK employment levels increased by 1.5 million to 29.1 million workers, meaning the increase was accounted for by migrant workers.

The study also found one in five low-skilled jobs are now filled by foreign staff.

The Government introduced a cap on the number of migrants coming to the UK from outside the EU last month, as well as a crackdown on bogus students and those seeking to settle in the UK.

But ministers were warned that its promise to reduce net migration could be in jeopardy because of the growing trends in areas it cannot affect.

Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), said: “This is consistent with employers who have said that they would look to the EU to recruit workers to fill vacancies that are sometimes difficult to fill, in response to the cap on non-EU migrant workers.”

Matt Cavanagh, associate director of the think thank IPP, said: “When they set the target in opposition, the Conservatives clearly hadn’t planned for emigration continuing to fall.

“This means the Government will have to take even more drastic measures to try to meet their chosen target.

“So they will have to tighten up even further on students or skilled workers coming from outside the EU – the most valuable kinds of immigration for our economy.”

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of Migration Watch UK said, "These figures show just what an enormous task the coalition government has inherited as a result of Labour’s mass immigration policy.”

Shadow immigration minister Gerry Sutcliffe said: "These figures once again call into question the Government's promise to cut net migration to the tens of thousands by 2015.”

Damian Green, the immigration minister, insisted it was still too early to see the effect of the Government’s measures to cut immigration.

He said: “These statistics show that immigration was out of control thanks to the old system – that is why we have already introduced radical changes to drive the numbers down and we will shortly be consulting on a range of new measures."